Systems and Methods for Handling Audio Disruptions

This patent application a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/080,250, filed Dec. 13, 2022, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/086,743, filed Nov. 2, 2020, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,558,658, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for selectively replaying interrupted segments of media content, and, more particularly, for selectively replaying interrupted segments of media content that are important for understanding a storyline of the media content.

While a user is consuming media content (e.g., a movie), background noise (e.g., people talking, alarms, children crying) may interfere with the user's viewing experience. For example, the user may not be able to hear the audio content of the interrupted segment of the media content. In some cases, the user may rewind the media content to re-watch the segment of the media content that was interrupted by the background noise. However, if the user rewinds the media content every time background noise interrupts the media content, a significant amount of time and processing resources may be wasted.

In some cases, because it is inconvenient for the user to rewind the media content after an interruption, the user may continue watching the media content without knowing what happened in the interrupted segment. If the interrupted segment is not an important segment (e.g., it does not include important moments in a storyline of the media content) or if the interrupted segment does not include any dialogue, the user's viewing experience will not be significantly affected. If, however, the interrupted segment is an important segment (e.g., it does include important moments in a storyline of the media content) and includes important dialogue, the user's viewing experience may be negatively affected (e.g., the user may not understand a storyline of the media content).

Accordingly, to solve these problems, systems and methods are provided for selectively replaying interrupted segments of media content that are important for understanding a storyline of the media content. In particular, a media player application may play, via a computing device in a media presentation environment, media content including a plurality of media segments, each of which includes a video component and an audio component. The media player application may monitor the media presentation environment for background noise that may interrupt the audio component of the media content. In response to detecting noise while a current media segment among the plurality of media segments is playing, the media player application may determine whether the current media segment is an important media segment among the plurality of media segments. If the media player application determines that the current media segment is not an important media segment, the media player application may continue to play the media content. Otherwise, if the media player application determines that the current media segment is an important media segment, the media player application may determine a complexity score of the audio component of the current media segment (e.g., based on the amount of dialogue in the current media segment). Based on the determined complexity score, the media player application may determine a replay threshold and determine whether a level of the detected noise is greater than the determined replay threshold level. In response to determining that the level of the detected noise is greater than the determined replay threshold, the media player application may replay, via the computing device, the current media segment from the beginning instead of continuing to play the media content. This solves the problem of only replaying media segments with an important audio component (e.g., important dialogue) when media segments are interrupted by background noise.

In some embodiments, when detecting the noise in the media presentation environment, the media player application may detect noise exceeding a minimum threshold level. The minimum threshold level may be determined based on an output volume of the audio component of the current media segment.

In some embodiments, when determining whether the current media segment is an important media segment, the media player application may search metadata of the current media segment for a metadata flag indicating an important event; and in response to identifying the metadata flag indicating an important event based on a result of the searching, may determine that the current media segment is an important media segment.

In some embodiments, the media player application may determine a subtitles threshold based on the determined complexity score. The determined subtitles threshold may be greater than the determined replay threshold. In some embodiments, the media player application may determine whether the level of the detected noise is greater than the determined subtitles threshold. In response to determining that the level of the detected noise is greater than the determined subtitles threshold, the media player application may provide for display, on the computing device, subtitles corresponding to the audio component of the current media segment, while the current media segment is being replayed.

In some embodiments, the media player application may determine a volume threshold based on the determined complexity score. The determined volume threshold may be greater than the determined subtitles threshold. In some embodiments, the media player application may determine whether the level of the detected noise is greater than the determined volume threshold. In response to determining that the level of the detected noise is greater than the determined volume threshold, the media player application may increase, via the computing device, an output volume of the audio component of the current media segment, while the current media segment is being replayed.

In some embodiments, the media player application may determine the subtitles threshold further based on an output volume of the audio component of the current media segment. In some embodiments, the media player application may determine the volume threshold further based on the output volume of the audio component of the current media segment.

In some embodiments, the media player application may determine the subtitles threshold further based on a profile of the detected noise. In some embodiments, the media player application may determine the volume threshold further based on the profile of the detected noise.

In some embodiments, the media player application may determine the replay threshold level further based on an output volume of the audio component of the current media segment.

In some embodiments, the media player application may determine the replay threshold level is further based on a user profile.

In some embodiments, the media player application may determine the complexity score of the audio component of the current media segment based on an amount of dialogue in the current media segment.

shows an illustrative process for replaying a media segment that is interrupted by noise, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, a usermay be viewing a computing device (e.g., TV) that is currently playing a particular media segment(i.e., the “current media segment”) among a plurality of media segments comprising media content (e.g., a movie). For example, as shown, the usermay be watching the movie “Star Wars: Episode V.” In some embodiments, each of the plurality of media segments may include a video component and an audio component. For example, as shown, while the video component of the current media segmentis being played, an audio component(i.e., “No! I am your father”) may be played through speakers of the TV. Although a TV is illustrated, the TVmay be any user equipment (e.g., a smartphone, laptop, etc.)

At, while “Star Wars: Episode V” is playing, a media player application, implemented on user equipment (e.g., the TV), may monitor the media presentation environment (e.g., a room where the useris viewing the TV) for background noise. For example, the media player application may monitor the media presentation environment using a microphone in the TVand/or microphone(s) in other user equipment (e.g., a smartphone of the user, a speaker connected with the TV, or any other user device in the media presentation environment). In some embodiments, the media player application may use filtering techniques to distinguish background noise from the audio component of “Star Wars: Episode V.” As shown, the media player application may detect background noisewhile the current media segmentis playing.

At, in response to detecting the background noise, the media player application may determine if detected background noiseinterrupts the current media segment. For example, the media player application may determine if the background noiseinterferes with the ability of the userto hear the audio component. In some embodiments, the media player application may compare a level of the background noisewith an interruption threshold value to determine if the background noiseinterrupts the current media segment. In some embodiments, the interruption threshold value may be dynamically set based on a number of factors that correspond to the ability of the userto hear the audio component. For example, the interruption threshold value may be set based on the current volume level of the TV, a profile of the user(e.g., is the user hard of hearing?), a number of users in the media presentation environment, a distance of the userfrom the TV, etc. If the media player application determines that the background noisedoes not interrupt the current media segment, the media player application may return toand continue to monitor the media presentation environment. If, however, the media player application determines that the background noisedoes interrupt the current media segment, the media player application may proceed to.

At, the media player application may determine if the current media segmentis an important media segment in “Star Wars: Episode V.” For example, the media player application may determine if the current media segmentis an important segment for understanding a plot or storyline of “Star Wars: Episode V.” In some embodiments, to do this, the media player application may access metadata of “Star Wars: Episode V” and determine if the current media segment is an important segment. For example, the media player application may search for a metadata flag indicating an important event in the current segment. In some embodiments, the metadata may include a rank of importance of different segments in “Star Wars: Episode V.” If the media player application determines that the current media segmentis not an important media segment, the media player application may return toand continue to monitor the media presentation environment. If, however, the media player application determines that the current media segment is an important media segment, the media player application may proceed to. As shown, the media player application determines that the current media segment, in which Luke Skywalker learns that Darth Vader is his father, is a very important segment in “Star Wars: Episode V” (e.g., by identifying a metadata flag indicating the importance of the event).

At, the media player application may determine at least one replay threshold, based on the dialogue complexity of the current media segment(i.e., corresponding to the audio component). In some embodiments, the media player application may determine a complexity score of the audio componentof the current media segment. For example, the media player application may determine how many words are spoken during the current media segment. If no words are spoken during the current media segment, the media player application may assign a complexity score of zero. As the words spoken in the current media segmentincrease, the media player application may assign higher complexity scores as a function of, e.g., the number of words in the segment, the number of words a minute, etc. In some embodiments, the media player application may assign complexity scores on a scale (e.g., zero to ten). However, this is only one example and the media player application may assign complexity scores on any appropriate scale that reflects the dialogue complexity of the audio component. As shown in more detail in, the media player application may determine at least one replay threshold based on the determined complexity score.

shows a detailed view of an example graphincluding a plurality of replay thresholds, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, the graphincludes three replay thresholds,,, which are each a function of the complexity score of the audio component of the media segment. However, this is only one example, and the graphmay include more or fewer than three replay thresholds. As shown, the graph includes replay threshold(“Threshold to replay”), subtitles threshold(“Threshold to switch on subtitles”), and volume threshold(“Threshold to increase volume”). In some embodiments, the replay thresholds,,may be determined in advance (e.g., preset by the media player application). In this case, the predetermined replay thresholds,,may be adjusted based on the current volume level of the TVor any of the other factors described above with reference to the interruption threshold. As shown, the replay thresholds,,may be plotted against the level of detected noise (e.g., decibels (dB)). In the illustrated example, the y-axis of the graphis in dB and the x-axis of the graphis a complexity scale from zero to ten. However, this is only an example, and the graphmay include any suitable axis or scales. As shown, as the complexity score of the audio component increases, each of the replay thresholds,,decreases. Although the replay thresholds,,are shown as non-linear relationships (i.e., with the level of detected noise), this is only one example, and the replay thresholds,,may be linear. In some embodiments, the replay thresholds,,may be periodically adjusted based on feedback from the user, as described in more detail below.

Returning to, at, the media player application may determine if the level of the background noiseis greater than a replay threshold. For example, the media player application may compare the level of the background noiseto the replay thresholds,,illustrated in. If the media player application determines that the level of the background noiseis not greater than any of the replay thresholds (i.e., less than or equal to the replay threshold), the media player application may return toand continue to monitor the media presentation environment. If, however, the media player application determines that the level of the background noiseis greater than at least one of the replay thresholds (i.e., greater than replay threshold), the media player application may proceed to.

At, the media player application may determine replay parameters for replaying the current media segment. For example, the media player application may determine a replay parameter, among the plurality of replay parameters, by comparing the level of the detected background noisewith the replay thresholds,,illustrated in. For example, if the level of the detected noise is greater than the replay thresholdbut less than the subtitles threshold, the media player application may replay the current media segmentwith the original play parameters of the TVwhen the current media segmentwas interrupted (e.g., the same output volume and no subtitles). If the level of the detected noise is greater than the subtitles thresholdbut less than the volume threshold, the media player application may replay the current media segmentwith subtitles (but at the same output volume). If the level of the detected noise is greater than the volume threshold, the media player application may replay the current media segment at an increased output volume. In some embodiments, the media player application may also display subtitles when replaying the current media segment at the increased output volume.

As shown, plot points,,,,are represented on the graphby the level of detected noise for the complex score of the audio component of the interrupted media segment. As shown, plot points,, andmay have the same level of detected noise (e.g., about 65 dB) but different complexity scores, about 2, 6, and 8, while plot points,, andmay have the same complexly score (e.g., about 6), but different levels of detected noise (e.g., about 45 dB, 55 dB, and 65 dB). Thus, the media player application may take different actions for each corresponding interrupted segment. For example, for plot point, which has a low complexity score (e.g., about 2), and for plot point, which has a low level of detected noise (e.g., about 35 dB), the media player application may determine not to replay the interrupted segments (e.g., “No” at). For plot point, the media player application may determine to replay the interrupted segment with the original play parameters. For plot point, the media player application may determine to replay the interrupted segment with subtitles. For plot point, the media player application may determine to replay the interrupted segment at an increased volume (and with subtitles in some embodiments).

In the example shown in, plot pointmay represent the level of the detected background noise(e.g., about 65 dB) at the determined complexity score (e.g., about 6) of the audio componentfor the current media segment. In this case, the media player application may determine the replay parametersas “2. Replay with subtitles,” and replay the current media segmenton the TVwith subtitles, as shown in screen. Examples of the screenwill be explained in more detail below in connection with.

provides an example screenillustrating a notification being shown while the current media segmentis being replayed, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, when the current media segmentis interrupted, the current media segmentmay be replayed from the beginning of the segment. As shown, when the current media segment is replayed, the media player application may display, on the TV, subtitlesof the current media segment(e.g., corresponding to the audio componentof the current media segment). Additionally, the media player application may display, on the TV, a notificationinforming the userthat the current media segmentis being replayed (e.g., “Noise detected. Replaying interrupted segment with subtitles”). In some embodiments, the notificationmay include an option for the userto skip replay of the current media segment(e.g., “Click here to resume without replaying interrupted segment”). In some embodiments, the media player application may track how often the userskips replay of an interrupted media segment or adjusts playback parameters when background noise is detected and adjust the replay thresholds (,,) discussed above. In some embodiments, the interrupted segment may be replayed from the point when background noise was detected. In some embodiments, the interrupted segment may be replayed from a point a predetermined time before the point when background noise was detected. In some embodiments, the interrupted segment may be replayed from the beginning of the scene in which the background noise was detected. In some embodiments, replay points may be set by the user.

provides an example screenillustrating a notification being shown while the current media segmentis being replayed, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, the screenmay be displayed when the media player application determines to replay the current media segmentwith an increased volume. As shown, when the current media segmentis replayed at an increased volume, the media player application may display, on the TV, a notificationinforming the userwhy the current media segmentis being replayed (e.g., “Noise detected. Replaying interrupted segment and temporarily increasing volume because interrupted segment is important”).

describe exemplary devices, systems, servers, and related hardware for replaying a media segment that is interrupted by noise, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.shows generalized embodiments of illustrative user equipment devicesand. For example, user equipment devicemay be a smartphone device. In another example, user equipment systemmay be a user television equipment system (e.g., the TV). The user television equipment systemmay include a set-top box. The set-top boxmay be communicatively connected to a microphone, a speaker, and a display. In some embodiments, the microphonemay detect sound (e.g., background noise) in the media presentation environment. In some embodiments, the displaymay be a television display or a computer display. In some embodiments, the set-top boxmay be communicatively connected to a user input interface. In some embodiments, the user input interfacemay be a remote control device. The set-top boxmay include one or more circuit boards. In some embodiments, the circuit boards may include processing circuitry, control circuitry, and storage (e.g., RAM, ROM, Hard Disk, Removable Disk, etc.). In some embodiments, the circuit boards may include an input/output path. More specific implementations of user equipment devices are discussed below in connection with. Each one of the user equipment deviceand the user equipment systemmay receive content and data via input/output (“I/O”) path. The I/O pathmay provide content (e.g., broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, content available over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN), and/or other content) and data to control circuitry, which includes processing circuitryand a storage. The control circuitrymay be used to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable data using the I/O path. The I/O pathmay connect the control circuitry(and specifically the processing circuitry) to one or more communications paths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a single path into avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

The control circuitrymay be based on any suitable processing circuitry such as the processing circuitry. As referred to herein, processing circuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may include a multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or any suitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments, processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separate processors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same type of processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multiple different processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Core i7 processor). In some embodiments, the control circuitryexecutes instructions for a media player application stored in memory (i.e., the storage). Specifically, the control circuitrymay be instructed by the media player application to perform the functions discussed above and below. In some implementations, any action performed by the control circuitrymay be based on instructions received from the media player application.

In client/server-based embodiments, the control circuitrymay include communications circuitry suitable for communicating with a media player application server or other networks or servers. The instructions for carrying out the above mentioned functionality may be stored on a server (which is described in more detail in connection with. Communications circuitry may include a cable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card, or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or any other suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involve the Internet or any other suitable communication networks or paths (which is described in more detail in connection with). In addition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enables peer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communication of user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (described in more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as the storagethat is part of the control circuitry. As referred to herein, the phrase “electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood to mean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, or firmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives, optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD) recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders, digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal video recorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gaming consoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storage devices, and/or any combination of the same. The storagemay be used to store various types of content described herein as well as media player application data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used (e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-based storage, described in relation to, may be used to supplement the storageor instead of the storage.

The control circuitrymay include video generating circuitry and tuning circuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2 decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, or any other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of such circuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog, or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided. The control circuitrymay also include scaler circuitry for upconverting and downconverting content into the preferred output format of the user equipment. The circuitrymay also include digital-to-analog converter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry for converting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encoding circuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and to display, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encoding circuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitry described herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating, encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digital circuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or more general purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may be provided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and record functions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording, etc.). If the storageis provided as a separate device from the user equipment device, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multiple tuners) may be associated with the storage.

A user may send instructions to the control circuitryusing the user input interface. The user input interfacemay be any suitable user interface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard, touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognition interface, or other user input interfaces. The displaymay be provided as a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of each one of the user equipment deviceand the user equipment system. For example, the displaymay be a touchscreen or touch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, the user input interfacemay be integrated with or combined with display. The displaymay be one or more of a monitor, a television, a display for a mobile device, or any other type of display. A video card or graphics card may generate the output to the display. The video card may be any processing circuitry described above in relation to the control circuitry. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry. Speakersmay be provided as integrated with other elements of each one of the user equipment deviceand the user equipment systemor may be stand-alone units. The audio component of videos and other content displayed on the displaymay be played through the speakers. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to a receiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers.

The media player application may be implemented using any suitable architecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone application wholly-implemented on each one of the user equipment deviceand the user equipment system. In such an approach, instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in the storage), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodic basis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, or using another suitable approach). The control circuitrymay retrieve instructions of the application from the storageand process the instructions to rearrange the segments as discussed. Based on the processed instructions, the control circuitrymay determine what action to perform when input is received from the user input interface. For example, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated by the processed instructions when the user input interfaceindicates that an up/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media player application is a client/server-based application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented on each one of the user equipment deviceand the user equipment systemis retrieved on-demand by issuing requests to a server remote to each one of the user equipment deviceand the user equipment system. In one example of a client/server-based guidance application, the control circuitryruns a web browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. For example, the remote server may store the instructions for the application in a storage device. The remote server may process the stored instructions using circuitry (e.g., the control circuitry) and to selectively replay interrupted segments of media content that are important for understanding a storyline of the media content as discussed.

In some embodiments, the media player application is downloaded and interpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (run by the control circuitry). In some embodiments, the media player application may be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received by the control circuitryas part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by a user agent running on the control circuitry. For example, the media player application may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, the media player application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files that are received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitable middleware executed by control circuitry. In some of such embodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital media encoding schemes), the media player application may be, for example, encoded and transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio and video packets of a program.

is a diagram of an illustrative media system, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. User equipment devicesand(such as the TV) may be coupled to communication network. The communication networkmay be one or more networks including the Internet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a 4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, or other types of communication network or combinations of communication networks. Paths (e.g., depicted as arrows connecting the respective devices to the communication network) may separately or together include one or more communications paths, such as a satellite path, a fiber-optic path, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g., IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wireless signals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path or combination of such paths. Communications with the client devices may be provided by one or more of these communications paths but are shown as a single path into avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipment devices, these devices may communicate directly with each other via communications paths as well as other short-range, point-to-point communications paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wireless paths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or other short-range communication via wired or wireless paths. The user equipment devices may also communicate with each other directly through an indirect path via the communication network.

The systemincludes a media content sourceand a server. Communications with the media content sourceand the servermay be exchanged over one or more communications paths but are shown as a single path into avoid overcomplicating the drawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of the media content sourceand the server, but only one of each is shown into avoid overcomplicating the drawing. If desired, the media content sourceand the servermay be integrated as one source device.

In some embodiments, the servermay include control circuitryand a storage(e.g., RAM, ROM, Hard Disk, Removable Disk, etc.). The servermay also include an input/output path. The I/O pathmay provide device information, or other data, over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN), and/or other content and data to the control circuitry, which includes processing circuitry, and the storage. The control circuitrymay be used to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable data using the I/O path. The I/O pathmay connect the control circuitry(and specifically processing circuitry) to one or more communications paths.

The control circuitrymay be based on any suitable processing circuitry such as one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may include a multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or any suitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments, control circuitrymay be distributed across multiple separate processors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same type of processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multiple different processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Core i7 processor). In some embodiments, the control circuitryexecutes instructions for an emulation system application stored in memory (e.g., the storage). Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as the storagethat is part of the control circuitry.

The servermay retrieve guidance data from media content source, process the data as will be described in detail below, and forward the data to the user equipment devicesand. The media content sourcemay include one or more types of content distribution equipment including a television distribution facility, cable system headend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g., television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediate distribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demand media servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned by the National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by the American Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Media content sourcemay be the originator of content (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) or may not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand content provider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs for downloading, etc.). The media content sourcemay include cable sources, satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers, over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. The media content sourcemay also include a remote media server used to store different types of content (including video content selected by a user), in a location remote from any of the client devices. The media content sourcemay also provide metadata that can be used to identify important segments of media content as described above.

Client devices may operate in a cloud computing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computing environment, various types of computing services for content sharing, storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networking sites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing and storage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloud can include a collection of server computing devices (such as, e.g., server), which may be located centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-based services to various types of users and devices connected via a network such as the Internet via communication network. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in a peer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

depicts a flowchart of illustrative steps for replaying a media segment that is interrupted by noise, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The processmay be executed by the control circuitry(e.g., in a manner instructed to the control circuitryby the media player application). The control circuitrymay be part of user equipment (e.g., a device that may have any or all of the functionality of the user equipment devicesor), or of a remote server separated from the user equipment by way of the communication network, or distributed over a combination of both. It should be noted that the process, or any step thereof, could be performed on, or provided by, any of the devices shown in.

The processbegins at step, when the media player application (e.g., via the control circuitry) plays, via a computing device (e.g., the user equipment deviceor the user television equipment system) in a media presentation environment, media content (e.g., a movie) including a plurality of media segments.

At step, the media player application (e.g., via the control circuitry), detects, while a current media segment of the media content is playing, noise in the media presentation environment (e.g., background noise). For example, the control circuitrymay process signals from the microphoneto detect noise in the media presentation environment.

At step, the media player application (e.g., via the control circuitry), determines if the detected noise level interrupts the audio component of the current media segment. For example, the media player application may determine if the level of the detected noise is likely to interfere with a user's ability to hear the audio component of the current media segment. In one example, the media player application may make this determination in part based on the output volume of the computing device. If the control circuitrydetermines that the detected noise level does not interrupt the audio component of the current media segment (e.g., “No” at), the processmay return back to stepand continue to monitor the media presentation environment (while continuing to play the media content). Otherwise, if the control circuitrydetermines that the detected noise level does interrupt the audio component of the current media segment (e.g., “Yes” at), the processmay proceed to step.

At step, the media player application (e.g., via the control circuitry), determines if the current media segment is an important segment. For example, the control circuitrymay retrieve metadata of the current media segment and determine if the metadata includes a metadata flag indicating an important event (e.g., important for understanding a plot or storyline of the media content). If the control circuitrydetermines that the current media segment is not an important segment (“No” at), the processmay return back to stepand continue to monitor the media presentation environment (while continuing to play the media content). Otherwise, if the control circuitrydetermines that the current media segment is an important segment (“Yes” at), the process may proceed to step.

At step, the media player application (e.g., via the control circuitry), determines a complexity score of the audio component of the current media segment. For example, the control circuitrymay determine the complexity score based on the dialogue complexity of the audio component of the current media segment (e.g., the number of spoken words in the audio component of the current media segment). As one example, the control circuitrymay determine a high complexity score for a segment having a large amount of dialogue and determine a low complexity score for a segment having a small amount of dialogue.

At step, the media player application (e.g., via the control circuitry), determines a plurality of replay thresholds, each associated with different replay parameters, based on the determined complexity score. For example, each of the plurality of replay thresholds may be a function of the determined complexity score.

At step, the media player application (e.g., via the control circuitry), determines if the detected noise level is greater than any of the plurality of replay thresholds. For example, the control circuitrymay determine if the detected noise level is greater than the lowest replay threshold of the plurality of replay thresholds. If the control circuitrydetermines that the detected noise level is not greater than any of the plurality of replay thresholds (“No” at), the processmay return back to stepand continue to monitor the media presentation environment (while continuing to play the media content). Otherwise, if the control circuitrydetermines that the detected noise level is greater than at least one of the plurality of replay thresholds (“Yes” at), the process may proceed to step.